Skipton residents urged to move to higher ground with risk of flooding

AN alert has been upgraded to a major flood warning for Mount Emu Creek to Skipton.

The SES said through the Vic Emergency app major flooding may occur at Skipton on Friday morning.

"River level rises and minor flooding are occurring along the Mount Emu Creek at Skipton in response to heavy rainfall, with moderate flooding expected to develop from Thursday evening," the alert said.

"Major flooding is possible from Friday morning."

In the 24 hours to 4pm on Thursday rainfall totals of up to 70 mm were recorded in the Mount Emu Creek Catchment.

The rainfall is expected to ease in the evening.

At about 9.30pm, Mount Emu Creek at Skipton was at 4.26 metres and rising, with minor flooding.

It is expected to exceed the moderate flood level of 4.7 metres on Thursday night and the major flood level of 5.10 metres on Friday morning.

UPDATE, 9.30pm:

Powercor are working to restore power to about 30 properties after an outage on Thursday night.

The energy giant's website said storm activity had caused the outage at Warrnambool's Ardlie Street with power expected to be restored by 10pm.

There's also about 128 homes in the dark following a storm-related outage at Gellibrand.

Powercor has reported the incident at Old Beech Forest Road and power is expected to be restored by 10.30pm.

Earlier, 8pm:

Warrnambool SES attended four Allansford properties on Thursday to assist with flood water.

Unit controller Andrew Miles said water was flooding driveways and drains were blocked.

He said a crew also attended a property at Alice Place in Warrnambool where the house had a small amount of flooding in the yard.

Mr Miles said there may be more flooding on Saturday with water coming down from the north.

Warrnambool police Acting Sergeant Ross Hatton advised motorists to obey the signs during the weather event.

"Avoid driving through large bodies of water and drive to the conditions," he said.

Meanwhile, Colac SES and Birregurra CFA, with the help of off-duty police and community members, have worked to save both residential and commercial premises.

More than 20 metres of sand and 1500 sand bags had been laid by 7pm Thursday.

UPDATE, 6pm:

A sandbagging operation is underway in a main street of Allansford as emergency services rush to protect buildings from flooding.

A Warrnambool State Emergency Services crew was called to a single callout for flooding at the corner of Allansford's Ziegler Parade and Grauers Road on Thursday afternoon.

The call for help was made about 5.30pm and it is not yet under control.

There have also been requests for assistance due to flooding in Darlington, Derrinallum, Colac and Elliminyt.

Earlier, 5PM:

A community meeting is being held at the Skipton Recreation Reserve, 15 Smythe Street, from 5pm.

Residents are being advised to only attend meeting if it is safe to do so.

Earlier, 4PM:

The Glenelg Highway at Skipton is still open, but locals expect it to close overnight as the Mount Emu Creek rises rapidly.

In Skipton, a Watch and Act alert has been issued for the Mount Emu Creek.

As of 2pm the creek was still below minor flood level at less than 3m, but residents said it was rapidly growing.

'Libby' at the Skipton BP roadhouse and post office said floodwaters had already covered play equipment next to the creek at Stewart Park.

"The Glenelg Highway is still passable - but people need to travel tonight. I'm not sure it'll be passable tomorrow," she said.

"It's rising really quickly."

She said several suburban roads around Skipton had been closed, but main arterials were not yet affected.

"The supermarket in Skipton and our roadhouse are doing a roaring trade," she said.

"I've noticed here they seem to be going for the hot food.

"We have a lot of SES volunteers here and that's what they want. There's plenty of food to go around."

She said she felt the town was prepared.

"I think we're OK - there's a bit of panic - but not a great deal."

Earlier:

An emergency relief centre has been opened at Skipton Recreation Reserve at 15 Smythe Street.

Residents have been told to move to higher ground.

"Act now - take actions immediately to protect your life and property, and move to higher ground," an alert through the Vic Emergency app said.

In the 24 hours to 1pm on Thursday, rainfall totals of up to 40 millimetres were recorded in the Mount Emu Catchment with a further 20-44 millimetres expected for the remainder of Thursday into Friday.

The SES issued a moderate flood warning through Vic Emergency.

It said moderate flooding may occur at Skipton throughout Thursday night.

"River level rises are occurring along the Mount Emu Creek in response to heavy rainfall," the alert said.

"Minor flooding is likely to develop along the Mount Emu Creek at Skipton form Thursday afternoon and moderate flooding may develop from Thursday night.

"Further river rises are possible with forecast rainfall."

It is expected Mount Emu Creek will exceed the minor flood level of 4 metre on Thursday afternoon, and may exceed the moderate flood level of 4.7 metres with further rises possible with due to forecast rainfall.

Residents are advised never to enter floodwater, evacuate if necessary and be aware of rising water levels rising near them.

The SES has advised the following if you choose to leave:

If you are travelling:

If you stay or if it is unsafe to leave:

Road closures can be checked at traffic.vicroads.vic.gov.au.

Follow any information given to you by emergency services.

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